Closet storage
Delineate two different areas of your open-floor-plan design by building a free-standing clothes closet. A free-standing clothes closet has a box form and is structurally supported at its base, at its four corners and through the support beams at the top. This built-in storage structure will neatly store away your garments while functioning as a permanent room divider. Construct your free-standing clothes closet in one weekend. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Frame the Free-Standing Closet
1. Use chalk lines to mark the outline of the closet onto the floor. Measure six feet across and at least 2 ½ feet deep. Mark the door measurement onto the floor to leave a gap for the door. Add 2 ¼ inches to this measurement for the door framing.
2. Cut the pieces of 2-by-4-inch wood to box in the base of the free-standing closet. Screw or bolt these wood pieces to the floor.
3. Construct the two side walls and the back wall of the closet on the floor and then lift the walls into place. Cut another set of the 2-by-4-inch wood using the same measurements as the base plate pieces. These two pieces will make the bottom and top of each side wall.
4. Subtract the 4 inches from the two bottom 2-by-4-inch wood pieces and the 2 inches from the top 2-by-4-inch wood piece--a total of 6 inches--from the total desired height of your free-standing closet. For an 8-foot- or 96-inch-tall closet, the final measurement will be 90 inches.
5. Cut 2-by-4-inch wood studs to the measurement in Step 4, and space them every 12 inches apart from the corners.
Frame the Front Wall and Roof
6. Complete the framing of the front of the closet by cutting 2-by-4-inch wood pieces for the base, cutting more vertical wood studs and cutting the horizontal top piece of the front wall. Nail all of the pieces together and then lift each all into position. Nail or screw the ends together to make the closet's corners. Reinforce each corner with an additional vertical wood stud screwed to the corner studs for support.
7. Frame the doorway using your door measurements. Cut a horizontal piece for the door header and nail or screw it 82 inches above the floor.
8. Reinforce the door header with vertical 2-by-4-inch wood pieces that connect the door header base to the top of the free-standing closet.
9. Close in the roof of the free-standing closet by cutting horizontal pieces of the 2-by-4-inch wood to fit across the top from the front to back. Space these pieces every 12 inches, bolt through the side framing and screw heavy-duty metal brackets at each end and on each side of the 2-by-4-inch wood studs.
Enclose with Sheetrock
10. Cut pieces of sheetrock to enclose the walls and ceiling of the free-standing closet. Transfer the measurements onto the sheetrock with a tape measure, pencil and straight edge, and score the lines with a utility knife. Bend the sheetrock in half and cut through the backing to separate the pieces.
11. Line up the sheetrock to the wall and screw into the wall studs. Finish the walls with joint compound over the screw holes and seams. Apply strips of paper or joint tape to the seams and smooth them over with a finishing layer of joint compound.
12. Nail corner beads to each exterior corner of the closet and smooth a layer of joint compound over them to blend them into the walls.
Finish the Closet
13. Insert the door framing into the door opening, nail it into the wood studs and hang the door by screwing the hinge plates to the door molding.
14. Install the door hardware onto the door and on the side of the door framing opposite the hinges.
15. Cut two pieces of 1-by-4-inch wood, 15 to 18 inches long, for the hanger rod. Nail or screw them to the side walls of the closet at 62 inches from the floor.
16. Cut one long pieces of 1-by-12-inch wood using the length measurement of the closer for the shelves.
17.Cut a strip of 1-by-2-inch wood to install between the two hanger rod ends. Level it to the two end pieces and nail it to the back wall. Place the shelf board on top. Paint the interior and exterior walls of the closet.
Tags: 2-by-4-inch wood, wood pieces, wood studs, 2-by-4-inch wood pieces, clothes closet
